By Nomfundo Mbatha and Malebo Pheme
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has called for the dissolution of the Makana Municipal Council during a hearing on Wednesday in East London, citing the municipality’s ongoing failure to address critical service delivery problems which constitute violations of human rights.
During the hearing Makana Executive Mayor Yandiswa Vara claimed even if the embattled municipal council is dissolved, the problems will continue to exist.
Wednesday’s hearing — which commissioner Dr Henk Boshoff called a “chastisement” — was the second summons by the SAHRC over the same issues. The first followed a surge of complaints from the Makhanda community and Alicedale residents. The first hearing was for the purpose of ensuring that the municipality took necessary action to resolve issues that violate rights and human dignity.
Boshoff, speaking to Newzroom Afrika, said the second subpoena hearing was because of the municipality ignoring the orders of the commission issued in September of 2024. “We have observed that there were and there are still persistent service delivery failures at the municipality.”
Boshoff said they had requested the municipality to provide an implementation plan on how to address the persistent failures with regards to ensuring access to water for all citizens. “We requested the municipality to deal with these issues as a matter of urgency and provide an action plan,” he said.
This week, Vara and Municipal Manager Mpumelelo Kate appeared before the SAHRC hearing in East London. At issue this time was the fact that Makana has received significant support from provincial and national government and yet the situation is no better. According to Kate National Treasury has assisted with debt relief and smart meter rollouts. The Office of the Premier of the Eastern Cape and COGTA have contributed through the Small Towns Revitalisation Programme, which focuses on roads, electricity, and infrastructure upgrades. And then the Department of Water and Sanitation is supporting improvements at water treatment facilities.
Despite these efforts, Kate said, support, while helpful, remains insufficient when compared to the magnitude of challenges. “We are very grateful, but resources are very, very limited,” he said, noting that without provincial and national help, the municipality would be “in a worse situation”.
When asked particularly about access to water, Vara said: “Yes, there are still areas without water,” she said, and then cited aging infrastructure, frequent pipe bursts, and pressure challenges in high-lying areas. “Maintenance is [happening]almost daily and after repairs, some areas take up to two days to receive water again.”
Although there have been advancements since 2024, such as the separation of water valves to avoid full-zone shutdowns, Kate emphasised that Makana still has difficulties in reliably delivering water. Higher zones frequently go dry due to pressure problems.
Sewage still runs in the streets. Vara confirmed this is caused by the two wastewater treatment plants which are either no longer functioning or overburdened. She said the Mayfield Wastewater Treatment Works have been vandalised and is non-functional and the Belmont Plant that operates at overcapacity. There is however, work being done with support from the Department of Water and Sanitation.
In response to questions about corruption, Vara denied any recent, formally reported incidents affecting service delivery. “We have not had corrupt activities submitted to council, with the exception of a procurement issue in 2025,” she said, referring to the pump that was paid for but not delivered. She said the responsible director was dismissed, and the case remains in legal proceedings. Although there is an SIU investigation ongoing in the municipality, following a presidential proclamation, no findings from the investigation have yet been made public.
For this hearing the Department of Water and Sanitation, the provincial Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs and the office of the Eastern Cape premier, were invited to give presentations about the “challenges” Makana is facing.
Boshoff insisted that with all the help the municipality has received from national government, provincial government and water and sanitation, there is little recognisable improvement. He said in the Newzroom Afrika interview that there has been a “blatant disregard” by municipal leadership of the directives and recommendations that the commission issued a year ago.
He suggested also that the failures were rather a question of management and referred to a line in Kate’s report that said the municipality will “seek to persuade municipal workers to start performing their responsibilities”.
He said the commissioners suggested that either the municipality should be dissolved by provincial government or the executive mayor should “do the honourable thing” and table a motion under the municipal structures act that the council be dissolved. The response given by Vara and Kate is that dissolution would be the last resort, and the counter to that by the commissioners, was: “How many resorts are left?”
Boshoff ended his interview with Newzroom Afrika by saying “the political will is simply not there”.
